Trauma of the Forest (Meadema)

~ Chapter 33: Some Serious Talk ~

Warning: This chapter flashes back to previously played sexual assault, but does not go into further detail.

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In the early morning hours, the sunlight started to shine through the curtains of the window, after a very short night for Beth in particular. She felt something sliding gently along her hand, very slowly, which caused her to wake up. Of course it was Viv, who in her movements that she performed while waking up pulled her hand out of Beth's hand.

Beth was immediately wide awake, immediately ready to show Viv that she was in the room, knowing what had happened here in the room last night. She had to immediately show a hopefully somewhat clearer Viv that she was safe here, together with Beth, show her that those men weren't around.

Very slowly Viv opened her eyes and got a sharper view of Beth. Immediately a smile formed on Viv's face when she realized who was sitting next to her in the chair. 'Morning lieverd'. Oh how she had missed this, the slightly deeper voice of Viv when she first wakes up, with which she addresses her. She had not heard it for several days, she had not been wished good morning by Viv for days, so this one felt extra special. Beth got up from her chair and sat on the edge of the bed to be closer to Viv.

'Morning my beautiful warrior. How are you feeling?'. Beth placed her hand on Viv's cheek and gently stroked it, afraid of hurting her, because of course her face was still covered in bruises and red scratches. 'I'm feeling okay. A bit sore to be fair'. Beth very carefully leaned forward, to give Viv a soft kiss on her lips. A really minimal touch, so that her lips didn't come into contact with the blood scratch that was placed just above Viv's lips. 'I'm so proud of you'.

Then Beth came up again and she took her hand from Viv's cheek to then place it on the blankets on her leg and she started rubbing her covered tights very gently. In the meantime she let Viv look around calmly, who clearly still needed some time to take everything in. Beth watched calmly, and said nothing, she only showed her support by stroking her.

But still she decided to break the silence, to find out if Viv had any idea what they were here for. To check if she even remembers anything of what had happened so far, and maybe even before that. 'Do you know why we're here, darling?'.

Immediately a lump rose in Beth's throat as she said the words and Viv's face immediately fell. 'Uhmmm... Yeah.... Yeah, I know'. Viv indeed knew why they were here, she had of course already imagined in the electricity house that she would have to go straight to the hospital if she was ever freed, but of course she didn't know what interventions had been done. They looked at each other, both of them a bit pale by now, they both knew damn well what had happened, but neither of them had the 'guts' to start talking about it.

Viv knew that she would have to talk about it at some point, but she wasn't ready for it yet. The same for Beth, she was absolutely not ready to have this conversation now either, especially not because she knew how much pain Viv was in from all the operations and the actions that had been done in the dirty room. But yeah. How long can this conversation really be postponed? What would be the point of beating around the bush?

For now it was not on the schedule. First it was up to Beth to explain to Viv what they had done here in the hospital, when she noticed that Viv was looking at herself a bit questioningly when she saw all the wires, tubes and the rib brace that was around her chest.

'You know why you're wearing that, honey?' Viv, who was feeling her rib brace, suddenly looked up and looked Beth straight in the eye, with a slightly frightened look when she heard Beth's serious tone.. 'Uhmm... No...'. A deep sigh left Beth's mouth, the sign for Viv that this wasn't going to be just any conversation, but a pretty serious one. She immediately grabbed the remote control of her bed to sit up a little straighter, so she could look at Beth more comfortably.